Except for Leric.
He was resting casually on his chair, sipping from a tall glass of vodka—straight from the looks of it. “I see you found my Tristan.”
I grabbed a roll from the middle of the table, my plate having been taken. “Actually, he found me.”
Leric sipped from his drink again, his silver eyes skimming my face over the edge of his crystal glass. “You look a bit winded. Did you go outside?”
I tossed a small piece of bread into my mouth. “I did for a few minutes.” I waved a hand at my hair, which felt messed up. “There’s a breeze out there.”
King Collins’s head tilted in my direction. “I thought you had a phone call at the front desk?”
I nodded once. “I did say that, but I did step outside for a moment.” I popped another sliver of bread into my mouth. “The air’s nice and crisp tonight, and with the moon shining, it’s very picturesque. You should take a walk and enjoy the evening after this.”
“I just might.” He patted one of my hands. “And I’m glad to see you’re in a better mood.” I barely kept from laughing. My spirits were lifted from drawing weapons on someone and having them drawn on me in return, a bit of ‘sadistic normalcy’ returned to my life. He leaned down, his eyes scanning my face before he whispered, “Was that Sin on the phone?”
“Mm.” I munched on a larger portion of bread. “I’d rather not talk about it.” I patted his own hand softly, keeping my face down. “You understand, of course?”
“Of course,” he stated, squeezing my hand before peering to King Zeller.
They resumed their conversation.
Only just withholding my eye-roll at how easily King Collins fell for pitying me, I tore off a large chunk of the roll and bent, feeding Tristan. But I froze with Tristan eating carefully from my palm, my eyes unmoving on Leric across the table…who had my damn envelope in his hands, reading the content of the letter with one eyebrow raised. My eyes narrowed as I straightened, realizing he had used his powers to steal from me.
Leric tapped the letter back into the envelope, not even bothering to speak quietly. His silver eyes pierced mine. “I could have sworn I knew all the men and women trying to get in your pants.” I flinched when in clear aggravation he flicked the envelope straight at me across the table, hitting me squarely in the chest. It fluttered down onto the table. His eyelids quickly hooded his gaze, but I had seen the quiet fury there before he tried to mask it. “Who the fuck is Jasper?”
My lips pinched, and my instant blush was almost painful as everyone’s eyes fell on us. I barely grabbed the envelope before King Collins did, stuffing it back into my purse. With my attention still captured by Leric’s, I stated slowly, “It’s not what you’re thinking.”
A sardonic brow lifted. “What I think is that you just blatantly lied about your damn whereabouts to your King, after receiving a fucking letter from a man named Jasper.” He slammed his elbows on the table and everyone’s glasses shook, clinking chaotically, as he steepled his hands and touched the tips of his fingers at his lips. “Is my thinking incorrect?”
My nostrils flared and I felt my chin tilt upward. “No, that statement isn’t incorrect.”
He tapped his fingers on his lips as his eyelids hooded his gaze even further, only a bit of silver showing through their slits. His eyes were dimly glowing, he was so pissed. He rumbled on an ominous purr, “Ah, so it’s like your rendezvous today inside that vendor’s tent?”
My mouth went completely dry, my heart hammering up to my throat. My eyes flicked to Brann, but Leric slammed his left palm down on the table, the whole fucking thing shaking. I jumped in my seat, my attention swinging back to his furious gaze.
He hissed, “He didn’t tell me shit, in case you’ve forgotten again who the fuck I am.”
“Leric,” I murmured softly, my voice shaking in an embarrassing manner. “I’m telling you, it’s not like that.” My eyes darted back and forth between his. “And besides, you told me you didn’t—”
“I know what the fuck I told you. And I can see I made the right decision if you’re so fucking blind to what I’ve been doing so far.” He shook his head, his white rolls of curls flying as he stared at me from shadowed eyes. “You had the right of it, Sprite. You’re nothing but a childish fucking twenty-three-year-old, who’s a fucking liar since you still can’t tell the goddamn truth when confronted.” He growled deep in his throat, baring his teeth at me. “And apparently you’ve also turned fucking slut after our night together.”
My jaw clenched, utterly mortified to be demeaned like this in public. It was further embarrassing when my eyes welled with tears of blatant hurt.
Leric flicked his wrist above my head. “Do it, since the truth can’t pass her lips.”
My breath caught on a gasp as a large palm landed on the back of my neck.